Living Counterculturally [LC] means going against the human societal grain. Violating unacceptable norms. Instituting values that aren't driven by money, free enterprise, and greed; subjugating those values to higher values of caring unconditionally for other human beings, whoever they are, whereever they are on the face of the earth. It means doing routinely what others don't do, looking out for others needs as completely as one's own. LC requires being willing to accept discomfort, pain, even death for the actions one undertakes. Living counterculturally is for me giving unconditional love to all human beings, therefore reaching out to the minority, the unloved, the outcast, the rejected and reviled. Unconditional love means seeing all people as worthy of love, especially those who don't think they are, those who feel unlovable and unworthy of love.

For me, living counterculturally is defined positively, being willing to deal with the negative implications and outcomes. My countercultural life doesn't include destructive acts, hateful motives, or inhumane treatment. Quite the contrary, living counterculturally leads me to do positive acts, to live constructively. My countercultural life is modeled on the greatest figures in human history like Bhudda, Mohammed, the Biblical gure Jesus Christ (and his disciples), Martin Luther King, Ghandi, and others. They are not the only religious or historical figures who have lived an appropriately countercultural life.

How about you? What do you think? How do you live? With or against the flow? Do you need courage? Have courage?

Part of living counterculturally is rejecting male domination of the culture. Rejecting the overriding patriarchy of western and world culture requires constant education, attention, and courage. I am all about fighting fighting, especially domestic violence, raising public consciousness about its prevalence so that men no longer feel free to control and abuse their partners. I would like men to be shamed by the society which surrounds them so that they stop, think, and make other choices than control-abuse and violence-physical violence.